He had been stabbed multiple times and believed to have been tortured beforehand. The attack on him at his home was described as sustained and controlled.

His body was discovered the day after his blue L-registration Fiat Panda car was found burning on spare land near his home. The police went to his house to investigate his car and found him slumped in the hallway.

The police said 'This was a vicious attack. It was sustained but what makes it unusual is that it was controlled. The likelihood is that the attack was over a period of time. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of him being tortured and there is a possibility he was initially stabbed in a way that was not life threatening.'.

Leonard Farrar had defensive injuries although there was little sign of any struggle in the house.

He was last seen at about 10.30pm on the previous Thursday. He was found when the police went back to his house for a second time in relation to his car at 6.35pm on the Saturday.

A neighbour said that they heard a loud bang at 2am on the Friday morning. One of the neighbours said 'The walls shook. I thought someone was trying to break in and I went and had a look out of the window to the front and the side. But I couldn't see anything. I thought he must have fallen against the partition wall. There were a couple of little thuds after that and then it was quiet and I went back to bed.'.

When he was found his clothes were dishevelled and his television had been left on.

His house had been burgled a few weeks earlier but he hadn't reported it. It was said that he had had £40 worth of tobacco stolen when a suspicious couple went to his house. His neighbour said that Leonard Farrar had told him that the couple had called saying that they had seen an advertisement indicating that his house was for sale and wanted to ask him if it suffered from damp. The neighbour said that Leonard Farrar told him that he spoke to the man at his front door and that he then found that the woman was in his house and that he later found his tobacco missing.

He was a retired merchant navy captain. He had lived alone in the semi-detached house that had been the family home. He was single and had stayed in the house after his parents died.

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